A preliminary last note

Q: So, now that you are leaving tomorrow, was the residency worth your time?
A: My time, yes. Maybe you remember I arrived with two notions in my mind to dive in deeper here. One being the idea of ‘hope’, as expressed by many political thinkers around the globe as a possible answer to the political hegemony of the neoliberal right. That idea of hope is than opposing the vast presence of Fukuyama’s idea of the End of Ideology. With most governments in the West paying tribute to the notion no other arrangement for society is possible anymore than the economic neo liberal one we live in, hope in itself is becoming an oppositional idea. One scholar who wrote nicely about these matters is Stephen Duncombe, check here.

Q: Nice, but what about the second notion?
A: Let me finish on the first one, please, as I wasn’t finished formulating. I think my time here showed me many people in this time are trying to find a way for themselves to be living, to make a living without falling in the traps of that neoliberal economic trend. It is not that a new formula for living together came out yet, but people are trying rather than merely consuming. As I wrote somewhere: the American Dream turned into the American Nightmare here in Detroit and people don’t buy into that shitty story anymore. That could be a first step to working out a new Dream, one in which solidarity, localities and an end to consumerism are main features. Surely, if you look at Detroit and the changes it undergoes nothing is yet stable for future – some here even think Detroit did not yet hit rock bottom - but the sparks one sees are promising.

Q: Big words my friends…
A: Perhaps, but being the political thinker I am, these are little sparks of hope I will take home and keep on lingering about. Now to get your second notion. That one was inspired by a great book by a Canadian journalist, Doug Saunders, who wrote a book by the name of ‘Arrival City’, in which he investigates the way cities are changed by newcomers coming into town. As you probbly know most migrants move into neighbourhoods where they know people already. Saunders arguments that these migrant communities are the motor for cities, are the bastions for change in the towns they arrive. At a meeting in February last year he even convinced the audience, including me, the Arab Spring started by those newcomers in Cairo. They have been living in some parts of ton and have been making their way up in economical and political spheres. Untill they found out there is this glass ceiling. In order to break that glass the complete system of privileges and ingrown corruption had to be changed. Hence their wish for a complete overthrow of the Mubarak regime.

Q: Again you are using some big words here..
A: Yes, I agree, but the story also reveals to me, that personal stories, when combined, do make for big narratives. And having spend just two months in this town all I actually did do was collecting personal stories, some from today, some from the past, some for the future. So in order to find a common denominator for my experiences here I came up with two notions that were in the back of my mind already.

Q: Does that mean you were really working with a plan here?
A: To say that would be a lie. I struggled with the idea of being in town where so much is happening at the same time and actually being unable to contribute to one of those changes, that for a moment I wondered about the idea of residencies in general. But whilst looking back now there are plenty of new ideas that came into my mind. One of the most predominant being the idea of representation of towns. The ruin porn Detroit is associated with is a great example. The mediatised image of Detroit is – for many outsiders – just that: decay. But one can find completely other images here. So I took to some theories on photograpy, finding Susan Sontag’s ‘On photography’ a great treat again. Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’ was a great introduction to the way the USA is represented in pictures, whereas jacob Holdt’s work also gave some socio-political input. I guess I will be using some of the pictures I took in Detroit – not completely ruin porn free, see here as nails to hang some stories on.

Q: So photograpy came in, any other things you would like to share here?
A: Well, having been a curator for many public debates on urban planning and having been sent out by Expodium to dive deeper into the urban dillema’s of Detroit I tried to dig up some stories on urban planning in the USA and most notably on that part of the American phenomenon people call suburbanization. But a lot of reading on that matter is awaiting me. I do know however that the notion of the capsular society will play a big role in whatever I come up with. Raging from gated communities via the American lovestory with their cars to the way people plug their headphones in when walking their dog. It seemed to me public sphere in the USA is smaller than I expected and that the car and the life style connnected with cars has a lot to do wit hit.

Q: Well, again those are big ideas, didn’t you do think or do some ‘normal’ stuff?
A: Hell I did. For the first time in my life I saw a roller derby, I dove into the classic soul and rock sounds of Detroit, and I to be honest I also semi-wasted some of my time on seeing some American movies I had never seen before. On topics I had never considered to be my topics for this residency, but here they seemed relevant. So I saw some movies on the Civil War, on slavetrade and the slavery system. And surely did I do some drinking and eating with new found friends here.

Q: Ah, that was a word I was waiting for – friends.
A: I know, you are as sentinemtal a bastard as I am. So I will affirm you, yes, friends. As Detroit gets under your skin, so do people, no? And I met some real nice people here, friends that were interested in me being me, rather in me the resident. I hope they will remain people I am in contact with, for friend stuff and for commenting on the stories I put out afterwards on this residency here.

Q: You don’t ask the questions, I do. So what are your plans for the follow up of this residency?
A: Well, first of all my girlfriend, who came over to visit me here, and me will spend some days in New York. Than we cross the big pond where it is still holiday season. That offers some time for additional reflections on my time here. Than – as I mentioned – I hope to do something with pictures, something with the found ‘scientific’ ideas on what happened here, and combining all that with personal impressions. In the meantime some institutions here and back home are already thinking of some follow up to things I helped put into motion, as a movie series followed with open discussions.

Maybe even the idea of reframing public space as I tried to do with putting some Loesje posters could be one of the things in future. And there’s plenty more, but you’ll read about it on this blog in due time.

Q: Ah, becasue it is continueing?
A: Oh, yes. See you here again, but for now: Happy Holidays!

Flames Favorite Music & Things

Aarrgghh. Treasures in this town are so easy to find. Yesterday was the special Noel shopping day and night in what people here lik to call Mid Town, an upcoming part in town that had to do away with its’ old name of Cass Corridor because that reminds too many of the not so beautiful last twenty years. The organizing body for the Noel Day Midtown Detroit’s University Cultural Center put quite some energy in having the market succeed.

And it did. The streets were busting with people. Not so common here, as you’d imagined by now. When I spoke to someone waiting at the take away Chinese later on that eve, he just said: “Wow, to see people on the street. That made me think of years gone by. And you don’t know half how happy it made me seeing our pavements all used for what they are intended for: walking people.” So I suppose the day was a success.

But as you all know that in days of success you happen to have those very special moments. The uber success. While following one of the Detroit’s marching bands performing on the street I passed yet another second hand store on Hancock Street. Now there’s plenty more of second hand shops, be it for clothing, for house materials, or for records. This one looked liked it was for clothing, but they did have some records in there as well. So, logically, I stepped in. Then it turned out they didn’t have a few records, they had a dollar dungeon filled with the best sorted jazz and soul collection I’d seen here.

Owner Jim and employee Lerrol took their time for a little talk. They explained me the shop wasn’t the main income for Jim, however the parttime job has to provide for Lerrol. That the shop wasn’t that known in Detroit itself [whereas the record shops in Hamtramck are heralded all over the local media], but that they do attract visitors all the way down from Japan and Germany and England. The 45’s collection of Northern Soul is well worth that visit apparently. But what struck me most and really took the guys in for me was that they weren’t doing the selling for themselves; profits are all donated to an invisible group in town: the retarded. Once a year Jim told me, they even do organise an outdoor concert where local bands donate their time for a over enthusiastic audience. An audience which also climbs the stage to perform themselves. And so Jim said “We have had blind singers climbing the stage. We have had tough cases shining all over when singing on stage.” Now stories like these are exactly why Detroit is in my heart. It has nothing to do with the upcoming Cork nor Midtowns – it has to do with regular people taking care of eachother. Sharing life. Sharing stories. If only all could be so simple.

And that it is not that simple always is proven in the stories of the Detroit blogger John Carlisle. His book 313 is by far the most insightful book on Detroit bottom up that I have read. No stories on government, no stories on companies, no none of that. John went out to meet some of the special characters living in this town, listening to their stories, and then writing them down in a tender way. It made me laugh a lot as well.

“Supersonic D. Artists in Detroit now”

Was the title of an evening organised by the Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art [FMCA] of the Detroit Arts Institute [DIA] last November. Now that the meme in the press of the United States on Detroit is changing from ‘that disaster city’ to ‘that city where all is possible’ it was to be expected that words like supersonic and even Mecca would show up one day or another. As far as I can see this was one of the most blatant examples: “What is it like to make art in Detroit now that the city has become an international mecca for artists, curators, and critics? Hear directly from native Detroiters and newcomers at the heart of this transformation as they discuss challenges and delights they have encountered.”

After the welcoming words by Becky Hart, curator at the DIA, and Allan Nachman, director of the board of FMCA, four artists working in, or coming from Detroit were given the floor for short presentations of their work. Afterwards a discussion and Q&A would follow, one in which the ‘renaissance’ and the ‘celebration of what is happening’ were to be the central topics. The four artists however had not planned at only playing out that card. To Marie Hermann, Richard Lewis, Veronika Scott and John Egner, Detroit was many things, but not yet a haven for artists. Hermann recalled her reasons for moving here: 1. Cheapness, 2. Thereby offering the possibility to spend many hours of real work in her studio, 3. Space in town and 4. the extremely helpful surroundings. Lewis was a bit more blunt. He had moved from Detroit to New York to return to Detroit in 2002. Because, as he mentioned, he is “out of sync with the art world and never feels out of place in Detroit.” Scott on the other hand is a Detroiter of the newest generation and did live to up the moment, calling her Detroit pride something that helped her in making the first steps in her career. Egner who while presenting his works in a beautifully orchestrated amateuristic way remarked “he just did want to talk about himself” had trouble believing in the latest renaissance, as “artists did save many neighbourhood, but I don’t know if they are able to save Detroit.” The most painful remark of the evening was by him as well. When asked why then all the artists were coming over to Detroit, he answered: “it’s the hopelesness artists thrive on.”

For some information on the artists see links below:
Marie Hermann
Richard Lewis
Veronika Scott
John Egner

Hidden histories

A few days later, a few days filled with stories, a few days of exploring the D. Not only by driving around, by meeting people, by talking, but by taking leaflets, reading the signs on the streets, and already in this first weeks various layers of histories shape up. Having been impressed by reading Doug Saunders’ book ‘Arrival city’ on the arrival and consecutive ‘landing’ and empowerment of migrants within their own communities I’d like to look at Detroit as an arrival city. Waves of African Americans were coming to town in what was called the Great Migration – the migration of African Americans from the South to the North between 1890 and 1970. They arrived in a town that by then knew great Polish, Ukraianan and Greek communities. Nowadays the town of Hamtramck is referred to as Banglatown, whereas South Western Detroit is widely known as Mexicantown. The latest wave of immigrants are the socalled hipsters, being attracted by the vibrant scene they created for themselves, not necessarily connected with anything already existing in town, and the cheap housing possibilities. What will be a next wave of migration? And will the flagrant segregation that existed, and exists!, once be someting of the past?

Weekend

Weekends in the D offer plenty of opportunities to discover other sides of the town. Friday evening we spent playing 8ball in Temple Bar, meeting up with dj Affection. Some collab in future is at hand.

Saturday night Theatre Bizarre organized a tremendous party in one of the town's iconic buildings, the Masonic Temple. Costumes mandatory. Check their site for more info and see their facebook for uploaded pictures of guests. Five floors filled with music and shows and theatre and burlesque stages and… It was a good night out. The only disturbing fact: our dresses were marked with a Spartan. And Spartans are the sport teams of the Michigan State University, the concurrent of Wayne State University. All evening long people called out to us: "Go green!" And how much I would love the world to go green, I did not expect people to keep confirming that on a Halloween party. It had nothing to do with environmental issues, but all with the color of the sports teams. It took some Arab sheik to explain us why we were being so enthusiastically welcomed. Thanks again Mark.

Than sunday, as you can imagine, some tiredness was my share. Luckily Bart and Luc shared that feeling. An English breakfast with KT and some coffees later we took out to Belle Isle. The lounging island in the Detroit river. We watched a game of slowpitch in the sun. Afterwards we met up with Andrew Herscher [more on him later] in a beautiful pop up beergarten; Tashmoo. As it turned out this was their last sunday at their location at Van Dyke Street, and the lightbulbs, the beanbag tossing, the grilled sausages and the hipsters all made it feel very Berlin.

This town has many sides, and wow, I am going to dive in.

Spacious limbo-ism

First impressions
First impressions are always the most funny ones. The ones that give shape to your frame for understanding all things one is gonna encounter. Now my first impressions here were as one could expect: the USA really does look like all the images one knows from TV and movies: huge cars, big people, many ads along the road, and those dinners and delicatessen we all dreamt of. The car we drive in here swallows a 120 litres of gasoline. When the battery run empty some guys, each one of them weighting at least what us three weight together, helped us out at the gas station. And to finish the story at the gasstation: they did serve some awfully good Mexican food. So actually now new impressions there.

Spacious
But than to something that did strike me. We all know Detroit’s notoriety as the town where things, to say the least, didn’t exactly go as once planned. Economies failed, corporations decided to leave town & fuck over all their employees & their families, and hence the drop in population size from over 2 million to a mere 800.000 at the moment. I suppose everybody reading these lines heard about the word ‘ruin’ porn– the eagerness of seeing and preferably photographing the abandoned and deserted desolate and sometimes halfly burnt houses, so no need to dwell upon that – but what I did not realize is this: when these houses, factories, and other lots were taken down the sites weren’t developed and thus the town has an enormous amount of empty space. And Detroit already looks like a spacious town to me, having grown up in busy neighbourhoods in Europe. Every direction one looks shows open space. So even though Detroit is a big town it has a village feel.

Lethargy of living in limbo
And connected to that feeling is the very citylike idea of a village being more relaxed, more connected, more community like than the towns most people live in today. But than, for some among us who did grew up in villages, those little towns also had the dready long afternoons where nothing was gonna happen and you did know at beforehand. Numerous were the afternoons when homework was done and you didn’t know what else to do. That in some way also is the Detroit experience. It is the quietness of a post conflict zone where new life has yet to gain shape. It is the limbo time in which we don’t now what tomorrow will bring. It is the spacious surroundings that are so wide we don’t where to start filling them in. It’s the lethargy of not knowing where to start ‘cause there is so much to be done. It is the poetry of longing for a future finally starting.

WE'RE BACK!

Hellooohooo! We're back in Detroit, this time with Friso Wiersum who will stay here for the upcoming 9 weeks for us. Good to be back, lots of rain, but good to see Detroit in autumn too.

Customs this time went pretty well... although... Friso was picked out of line this time, and was lead immidiately to a back room for interrogation. Actually it wasn't that bad, but they didn't quite get how Friso would stay for nine weeks at someones home who he didn't even met yet. And the main thing: "we just want to make sure that, if you get hit by a car, you won't be a burden to our society".... Well, what to say about that?

And just when things for me looked to be really smooth this time -i went past the customs officer without too many trouble- just before really entering i was asked to again have my luggage checked. This officer asked me some questions: "what are you in Detroit for? For how long will you be staying?", and then: "why do you have so many layers on man?". I replied that it was indeed a little warm. The officer continued: "if you have so many layers on we of course think that you are hiding something from us. What are you hiding?". So i had to open my hoody and then the guy said something that i did'nt quite get, except for the word "belly", so, of course, i lifted my sweater and showed the guy my bare naked belly..... "Don't show me that man!!" he shouted, and i was released to go in to the country. So my belly did the trick this time. Will remember that for the future.

Milk and honey on the other side

The big day has come and gone. I had some early worries about the weather, since thunderstorms had been predicted, and part of my performance was to take place outdoors. In the end, the sun stayed shining on into the evening. The skies finally opened with a dramatic show of lightning, rain, and even a rainbow against a dark red sky. But by this time, everyone was safely situated in the Temple Bar with a beer and something to eat.
I was very pleased with how my two-part performance turned out, although I'm not sure if people knew quite what to make of it. The visual arts here appear to be dominated by the art object; in this context, it is perhaps a little difficult to place my own way of working: part theatre, part performance art, part artist's lecture. But I myself at least am satisfied with it, which is as important as what anyone else thinks of it. In due course, the edited video version will appear online.
The performance consisted of two parts, which took place in John K. King's book store and Cass Park respectively. To solve the logistical problem of moving people from one to the other in a reasonably short period of time, I had wanted to hire a bus and driver. Despite extensive efforts by KT to locate one at a reasonable price, this proved to be more difficult and expensive than expected - until finally we were able to secure the services of Jean Wilson and her blue biodiesel monster. Affordable, green, and much more fun!

After the performance, we set about feeding everyone in the Temple with hummus, rice, salad, chips, and various other delicious things. Jonas had turned the Temple into an exhibition space with an extensive collection of drawings and sculptures in his own inimitable style. A nice trick was the separate installations in the gents and ladies toilets - one show for the girls, and a different one for the boys. Afterwards Jonas, a.k.a. DJ Lonely, played a storming DJ set as always.

And so we are reaching the end of our time in Detroit. This week, with the pressures of the end show behind us, we have had time to do some things which need to be done before leaving: including, as we did yesterday, visiting Canada. It's only a bridge crossing away on the other side of the Detroit River, but in other respects it is a long way away. And this isn't Europe - there's a proper border crossing with guards, guns, and (probably) dogs.
We set off in bright sunshine across the Ambassador Bridge, an imposing structure towering over the Detroit River. Curiously, we did not need to present ourselves to US Customs on the way out, only to Canadian Customs on the way in. After a series of pointless questions about what we were doing in the US, why we were coming to Canada, and who's van we were driving, we were allowed to proceed.
At first glance, there are few great differences between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan. The streets are cleaner, there are very few abandoned buildings, and everything just seems to be in a slightly better state of repair. There is also clearly much greater ethnic diversity - which displayed itself not least in the astounding variety of restaurants. It was quite a strange experience to stand on the waterfront and to stare across at downtown Detroit, which has become so familiar and which was now in another country.

In some respects, Canada is a little bit closer to home. Speed limits are in km/h, there's some British influence in the spelling (Honour vs. Honor), and Queen Elizabeth is still on the coins.
And, without too much America-bashing, the evidence is plain to see of the effects of a political system which places greater emphasis on social welfare and solidarity. The United States, if it is possible to talk of the country as one whole (which is questionable), has an almost dogmatic attachment to free market economics and the right and responsibility of every citizen to fend for themselves. This has lead to some startling economic success stories, but also to some horrific economic and social failures. One of these is Detroit.
That said, I want to reiterate the warm feelings that I have already expressed for this city. And after around four hours in Canada - neat, tidy, ever-so-polite - I was surprisingly happy to be back in the grimy old Motor City.

But not before the ordeal of re-entering the United States. In contrast to the superficial enquiries on the Canadian side, we were subjected to more in-depth questioning this time. We were also made to sit in a waiting room while a team of border guards dismantled the internal panels of our Dodge Ram conversion van with the aid of power tools, in the hope presumably of finding something incriminating.
Friendly they were not, but they at least put the van back together, and - more importantly - allowed us back into the country. In two days time, we will be leaving it for good.

Why one marshmallow is sometimes enough

I am not able to keep up with Jonas' speed and quantity of writing, but I will try and at least write something meaningful in my own, more compact style...
The work continues. I have finished writing my half-hour, three thousand word performance text, and am now busy memorising it (or since we are in the USA, that should be memorizing). This is a very tedious process, although thankfully one that I am quite experienced with now.
Following my experiments last week with the bicycle wheel, I am now building an more advanced camera dolly. So far the results are great - a small test can be seen below.

The piece I am working on focusses on some themes related to the reason for our residency here: growth, decay, progress and success (and to what extent these are subjective concepts), and the idea of “enough” - that is to say, the state of being in which you cease to desire more.
As an example of the sort of accepted wisdom which I am attempting to be critical of can be seen in the following quote:

“In one US experiment, researchers put five-year-olds in a room with a marshmallow. The children were told that if it [sic] could wait 15 minutes without touching it, they would be offered a second marshmallow. Despite the inducement, the vast majority of the children ate it before the time limit was up.“ - www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14412025

The point which intrigues me is: why are they assuming that two marshmallows are better than one? Why is more always better? Can they not see that these children - apart from being impatient (although who would really want to spend 15 minutes in a room staring at a marshmallow?) - were perhaps quite satisfied with only one? How strange it is that adults cannot see this.
This may seem like quite an odd thing to be mentioning in relation to this residency in Detroit - but in fact it completely gets to the heart of what has been preoccupying me the whole time here. The life which people are able to carve out here despite the odds, against the grain of what seems rational with respect to accepted values, is clear evidence of the cracks in the system which chooses to condemn Detroit.

“Detroit has to be deprived of its reality so that everyone else can feel better about theirs.” - Herron, J. - AfterCulture: Detroit and the Humiliation of History

Or in other words, it is necessary for the city to be written off as a failure so that inhabitants of more traditional, “successful” cities can go on believing that the old system is working. Recent events are beginning to show that this self-deception cannot continue for long.
No-one can deny that, by all normal measures, Detroit is a total failure as a city. There is no getting away from the fact that life is hard for a great many people here, with many practical difficulties. On a functional level, many things which are normally taken for granted as a part of city life simply do not work.
But people stay here - and new people come here - for a reason. Politicians like to use evocative words like “hope” and “opportunity” to explain the mentality of Detroit, but I would say that the reasons are more concrete and down-to-earth than that: the unique atmosphere of Detroit is proof that another life is possible which does not involve a big-name chain store on every corner, ever-increasing house prices, gentrification, superficial image makeovers (although there have been plenty attempts), or a new car (or back home, bakfiets) in front of every house. There are so many initiatives which I have seen here, and in each case I been painfully aware of the countless reasons why it could not happen back home - lack of space, regulation, real-estate prices, the wagging finger of the law. Who is really the success and who is the failure? That is the nagging question which will be, I think, the lasting reminder of my time in this city.

Kama Sutra theory vs actually FUCKING!!!

I totally agree with this statement and general attitude of my brotherman Chris in his blog below....

"And if you don't make things, you don't understand shit about what life is all about. Well, that's how I see it, at least."

I am also making drawings again, and it feels so GOOD!
Some Rietveld student said that another teacher had said (don't know who)

"There is no art without some kind of craft or skill connected to it"
Even thinking has a system connected to it that you can "get better" at.

But to involve your BODY and sweat into your practise is SOOOO important, there is so much knowledge & wisdom hidden in there.

The Americans talk about "muscle memory", meaning the skills to drive cars or play tennis, or bike around. For you to get good at those things, knowledge HAS to move from the brain to the muscles.

It is something that interests me enormously and is often why I think purely conceptual art is often missing a certain type of (body) wisdom.

BRANIACS!!!!

By the way...is Arnon Grunberg a good writer, isn't he just a good thinker, or is that something else...I guess it is?
I guess you could be a good speaker (Obama). It doesn't automatically make you a good writer. Can you trust DJs who can't or even worse WON"T dance???!!! I don't think so.

Could you become a good lover by just studying Kama Sutra theory?


HEHEHEHE
"Performing the Social" is a especially apt title to this text!
Is that blues code speak for "the old in & out"?

PS we didn't write these label post tags, they were here when we came...but I like them!

The hour of judgement approaches

At last, things are coming together! Following from my last post, I now have permission to hold a performance at John K. King's store. This will form the first part of a two-part piece, the second of which will (probably) take place in Cass Park, also on the West Side of Detroit. Watch this space for more details...

Unfortunately, it will only be possible for a small number of people to be present during the performance, due to lack of space. Because of this, and because I want to make something which lasts somewhat longer than the remaining period of our time in Detroit, I also intend making a video work - of which the performance will form a small part.

This work is provisionally entitled Michigan left, after the the strange traffic arrangement of that name which is (almost) unique to this state. The basis of it is: to go left, you gotta keep going, turn left twice, go back the way you came, and then finally right. For me, this over-complicated and mixed up way of doing something simple spoke right to the heart. And of course, like most over-complicated and mixed up things, there's a good reason for it in the end (as usual, Wikipedia will tell you more). And it agrees to a great extent with how I have felt about my (almost) eight weeks in Detroit.

So I've been busy with two things - preparing the performance, and filming as many shots as I can for the film - since it will not be so easy to fill in any missing ones when I return to the Netherlands.
And to satisfy my desire to get busy with tools and bits of metal, I've been building the thing below - it's a sort of bricolage camera dolly (thanks for the photo Ben!).
I can't tell you how good it feels to be doing something practical, after all the weeks of meeting, thinking, drinking, and absorbing. In the end, artists are supposed to make things. And if you don't make things, you don't understand shit about what life is all about. Well, that's how I see it, at least.

But all this doesn't mean that I've stopped thinking about what it means to be here. Continuing from what I have written earlier about what exactly the point is of our being here, I would like to turn to the issues faced once you have accepted that you are here for a good reason.

There are practical difficulties, analytical difficulties, as well as moral difficulties. The first of these needs no explanation - anyone who has spent any time in a foreign country will know what I mean.
The second, the problems of analysis and observation, stem from the fact of your own otherness and newness, and that also of the place in which you find yourself. In the first instance, there is the difficulty of distinguishing that which is typical from that which is special - for if you are seeing everything for the first time, how are you supposed to know what happens every day and what is unusual? Whilst cycling in Poland a few years ago, I wrote about this too. Time will eventually erase this difficulty, which is in part the advantage of us spending an entire summer here. But of course, who is to say that this season is typical, or this year? All the time, I find myself making guesses and piecing together clues about what is really happening, what is really characteristic, and what are in fact ephemeral aberrations.
There are other problems, too. As I stand in line at the gas station, or waiting for the lights to change, I am torn between finding everything around me endlessly fascinating, or else so banal that I feel nothing but despair. What am I to think of the packet of Twinkies before me, or the traffic light swinging in the breeze? Are these things iconic, immortal, telling, poetic in the extreme, shining examples of what it is to be human, American, alive, and finite? Or are they simply objects, commodities, as meaningless as words in a dead language? I don't know, I really don't, and this constant switching between one and the other, right before my eyes, makes it harder than it already was to form any sort of concrete opinion about what I see.
And to the moral difficulties - these at least are easier to explain. How long must you reside somewhere before you have the right to criticise it? I have dealt with this question before in the Netherlands - where, incidentally, I feel totally within my rights to say anything I feel like (and where, incidentally, I must pay the same taxes as everyone else, behave as a responsible citizen, and respect the law, but may not vote).
But here, it still seems too new, too recent a development in my life. There's stuff here I just don't get, where I want to scream “why can't you just be like us?”, however much I know that I cannot and I should not do so. Other things I can be much more positive about. And of course, two months since leaving home, I am doubtless forgetting a bunch of annoying Dutch/Scottish/European habits too. I've also mentioned this point before, shortly before returning from China. And oh, that was a hard one.

The Political Techno of Underground Resistance (Detroit Techno part 3).

Hello People!

The Detroit techno research is going great. I have seen a lot of concerts,Juan Atkins (twice),

Moodyman (twice) Underground Resistance, DJ Al Ester, Matthew Dear and a bunch of small unknown acts at a 2 day picnic that UR organized for the benefits of "backpacks for school children" and another festival they organized in Highland park.

I have been to a sleazy after party in an industrial warehouse

(wasn't as good as it might sound, some straight 4 to the floor DJs from the suburbs).

But it all adds up to greater knowledge of the situation in the city and the history of techno.

I have gone to a lecture given by the label manager of UR, Cornelius Harris and had a good talk with him afterwards. And I have gotten a guided tour of Underground Resistance's HQ.

I have seen the very cute little Techno museum above their record store Submerge.

Cornelius Harris, label manager of Underground Resistance, tells the history of Detroit Techno in their own little

"Techno Museum" above their record store Submerge.

In the glass display Box containing "inspirations" there was of course a bunch of Kraftwerk stuff, as expected...

but just as much Yellow Magic Orchestra records, (Kraftwerk but with MORE humour from Tokyo),

which was interesting.

They also had another glass box with all their old drummachines and samplers.

Yet another with posters & memorabilia from their first tours abroad to Europe.

Holland was on the list.

I got some signed UR 12 inches and bought a T-shirt, and basically lived out all my girly

little Justin Bieber fan dreams (but with Underground Resistance).

I was also asked to sign the names of Baba Electronica and DJ Lonely on the walls of Submerge...next to Richie Hawtin, Sven Väth and DJ Hell and many others.

A proud moment for the DJs of FUCK!

Underground Resistance's record store Submerge and UR's HQ on East Grand

Street in Detroit...tjohooooooo!

Submerge is a closed record store and you only get in by making appointments in advance, they say that the people who really WANTS to come to Submerge will find it anyway.

It is an interesting approach to business, but maybe understandable if you know that they sell 70% of their records overseas, Europe and Asia mainly, and some to South America.

Shook hands with "Mad" Mike Banks of UR, (an imposing figure for sure with a very natural charisma) who with his booming moral anger and political awareness has made UR the Public Enemy of Techno and while we were there Juan Atkins!!!???

(the originator and founding father of Techno in the Early 80's)

knocked on the office door while Cornelius Harris was showing us videos of police violence in Holland (By the way Underground Resistance is boycotting NL for the moment, since one of their friends in Holland, who helps organize their tours, got beaten up by the police in Den Haag during the culture cut demonstrations). Juan Atkins knocked on the door and came in and sat down. A very gentle, almost shy person, with tiny skinny legs sticking out under his shorts. Very polite and unassuming. Outside URs HQ his silver Hummer was parked, which was kind of a contrast to his very shy, introspective, quiet persona.

UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE...

"Mad" Mike Banks OF Underground Resistance is pissed off at the European Techno world and feels that some of the enormous amounts of money circulating in Europe

(think Sensation white and black in Arena for instance) should somehow trickle back to Detroit in the form of Technological help for Detroit's inner city kids, the next generation of Techno stars. He feels that Europe took Techno and ran with it and nothing trickles back to "the motherland", I don't know how realistic that is.

One of the questions I had for myself concerning Underground Resistance

(who in Europe (I sometimes get the feeling) sells more T-shirts than records).

Was...just HOW political can you GET with instrumental techno music?

But they heroically built their own ideal world thru their record label, networks,

studios, record shop aso...

And in the often sleazy world of dance and the music industry as a whole they

have managed to set their OWN standards and lived by their own rules.

And when you see their commitment to their community, they sponsor little leagues baseball teams for inner city kids (just like Snoop Dogg by the way), and how they get all their mega stars DJ buddies to play for free in Detroit (Both Juan Atkins, UR and Moodyman could get paid much more playing in Europe, or moving to Europe). Also the faceless appraoch of UR, who usually DJs with masks, makes sense in a Techno world more and more focused on Star DJs, like Sven Väth, Richie Hawtin and Ricardo Villalobos who cruise from Ibiza to Miami to London fetching HUGE fees along the way. The local dedication of UR and their dedication to their own city makes them something else. There is also something very endearing about certain levels of their amateurism, for example in their cute little UR Techno Museum. It is NOT the high tech madness of Richie Hawtin or even Jeff Mills (founder of Underground Resistance together with Mad Mike Banks). It is something else. Their political involvement also stretches to Indian tribes in the amazonas who they support with video cameras to film and document the abuse they get from lumber companies there.

So behind the cool look of UR, there is something very genuinely angry, commited, aware and dedicated. I am attracted to the realness & grimness of their message (and image I have to admit) plus the fact that their "from the roots up" approach is so refreshing, which takes them into a league of their own and sets them apart from much of the so called political art of the vanilla left, that I ridiculed in my other blog

"My (THE) problem of community art...and why William Burroughs eat Superflex any day of the week". (see blog below).

All in all it has been a great period for me and for my increased understanding of this city...

Also I have spent a lot of time researching what there is to research on the internet about Detroit Techno and the city of Detroit....See the links in my other blog below.

A BOOK.....

Dan Sicko's book

"Techno Rebels...the renegades of electronic funk"

is a must read for anyone interested in Techno and

the city of Detroit in general. Very well written.

Dan is a Detroit native who in his book remembers the high school parties that nurtured the scene and gives enormous insights. He is a huge fan of Italo/Euro disco and connects Detroit Techno to this often forgotten source of inspiration.

According to Dan Sicko's book, there was an absolute craze in Detroit about Europe

(much like our whigger fascination with gangsta Rap, but reversed).

All the clubs had Italian names, and everyone was wearing fake Italian suits and trying to look suave, cosmopolitan and European.

Some of the HUGE Euro/Italo hits in Detroits early highschool parties were.

Kano-I'm ready

Telex-Moskow Diskow

Alexander Robotnick-Problemes D'amour

As well as Kraftwerk and YMO of course, that the lyrics were often in French or German

(that none of them could understand) was seen as a chic, cosmopolitan bonus!

The Detroit Techno scene has become so big now worldwide and the influx of money and attention creates a lot of tensions locally.

There is jealousy and infighting between the various scenes and generations.

The Ghetto Tech people (DJ Assault, Starsky & Clutch & DJ Godfather among others), feels that they don't get the respect they deserve from the old school garde, who often helps programme the annual Movement festival which is Detroits one and only festival with a large international audience. They also feel that their sleazy brand of Techno is more working class and bluecolor than the more intellectual approach of the legends, and that THAT in itself is seen as a problem.

A bit the same debate as you have on Jamaica, roots reggae vs. dancehall.

Daft Punk's favorite DJ, DJ Funk (left) from Chicago, next to Detroit's finest Ghetto Tech DJ...DJ ASSault

Usually the Ghetto Tech DJs perform mid day,and the late night spots are reserved for the legends, and even the legends fight among each other who should finish the night off.

Derrick May or Juan Atkins? Carl Craig, Kevin Saunderson or Blake Baxter? Plastikman, Eddie "Flashin" Fowlkes or Jeff Mills?

and with Underground Resistance, Suburban Knight, Stacey Pullen, Moodyman, Kenny Larkin

on the reserve bench you have a DEEEEEP team.

So of course tensions may arise, as the picking order and hierarchy has to be settled.

There is nothing minimal about Ghetto Tech!!!

There is also some resentment towards "white boy" Plastikman,

aka Richie Hawtin's world wide success.

Is Richie the Elvis or Eminem of Techno, coming to steal a culture from the black Techno Detroitians to make buckloads of money? Of course, releasing a record called "the future sound of Detroit" when you live in Windsor, Canada doesn't help your cause much.

Even though it is only a 5 minute bridge ride away.

But probably one bridge too far in the eyes of many local Detroit Techno purists.

And there is a sense that Richie was given chances and opportunities that the others did not get. On the other hand, just as with Eminem, there is no one, black or white, young or old in the Detroit Techno scene doubting Richie Hawtin's qualities. His stuff IS amazing and you could maybe argue that he injected much needed innovation and depth into a somewhat stagnant scene.

If you listen to Plastikmans early records you realize, this is something else! This is a totally brand new chapter, MILES above and ahead the (at times) overly Kraftwerk inspired sounds of Aux 88 for instance.

I myself had a somewhat complicated relationship with Detroit Techno.

Since I grew up listening to Human League, Heaven 17, OMD, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, YMO, Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA and so on...

I at first failed to understand what was NEW with this so called "Techno music".

But as time grew I could see the developments and innovations.

That much of it was instrumental for instance, was new...NO lyrics?!

It had a more direct link to black funk, Cabaret Voltaire, and others would sometimes be called "white electro funk" and Detroit Techno had a very direct relationship to the dancefloor, whereas with Industrial or Synth music, that was more a happy bi effect in some cases, but in most cases totally not. It was not "made for the dancefloor" in the same sense, even though you could sometimes consider dancing to it.

Techno was also born out of a DJ culture. Most Detroit acts has at one time or another DJ'd, either before they started making their own music or afterwards.

Depeche Mode and Cabaret Voltaire were BANDS and none of them even thought of DJing as a culture in itself.

That most Detroit Techno artists are NOT in bands, but do things on their own, as DJs and/or artists are also a difference.

Techno is also interesting because the mental idea traffic between USA and Europe (and to some extent Japan) has been so heavy...back and forth, back and forth.

Maybe you could argue that Rock and the Rolling Stones who also borrowed from the blues had some inter atlantic traffic, but probably not as much back and forth as Techno.

Of course also aided by MP3 culture, internet and cheaper air tickets (relatively speaking).

If we compare it to Hip Hop or Reggae, the idea traffic has been VERY dense indeed,to the extent that you have no idea anymore what or where is the centre of the Techno universe.

So it's an extremely international movement. Helped of course by the fact that it is mainly instrumental, so you bypass the debate "should we rap in Dutch or broken English".

It is freed from the language hierarchy...Techno as the esperanto of music.

And even though Detroit has been a place that has had is heavy, heavy share of race riots and racism, and there might be some resentment towards Richie Hawtin from less fortunate (and in some cases, just less talented) Detroit Techno acts. Techno (and House) is unique in its relative color blindness when it comes to race and music. Especially compared to Hip Hop, Country, Soul, Funk, Reggae or Punk music, Maybe Ska music could be an equally racially mixed music style, but I don't know enough about it.

You could argue that Hip Hop is ASLO very international and racially mixed, but then we sidestep the fact that everyone knows who's the boss and originator in Hip Hop.

African Americans acts like KRS One, Public Enemy or NWA! And I know from up close in East L.A. how hard the Chicano rap scene had to work to get (a tiny little bit of respect) and no matter how good and talented the Bijlmer rappers will get, it will take some time before they can outdo their American buddies in influence and respect worldwide. From an Amercian rap perspective it will never be more than a curiosity what their French compatriots can do with "their" music, rap.

So the hierarchy in Hip Hop is much more set. Even people in the UK (who speak decent English) could not get much influence or respect in Hip Hop until they just gave up and invented their own version of it and called it Dubstep, Drum n Bass or Jungle.

Last weekend Underground Resistance organized a small 2 day Techno picnic for the benefit of "backpacks for school children". The Picnic culture is an event that I don't think we even have in Europe, everyone brings there own food and drink and set up their little tents to protect them from the sun, people BBQ and sit in their fold out chairs, it is free and there is nothing to buy??!! As I noticed in Chicago at the House music picnic there, no beer!!??

It is a mixture of a family picnic (which we DO have in Europe) and dancevalley.It was a small intimate event no more than 80 people and everyone hangs around and dances to each others DJ sets, Juan Atkins in the background nodding his royal approval to Moodyman's housy set. Juan Atkins (the originator of Techno) DJ'd on Saturday and did a really good set, MUCH better than two weeks ago in Highland Park. Even squeezed in some obsure Michael Jackson track, if I 'm not totally mistaken (didn't recognize the song, but for the voice). Juan also came out on day two to check out the competition. Moodyman is the better DJ to be frank, and so is DJ Al Ester (who is phenomenal!!!). But of course if Juan DJs, the younger DJs stand behind him in awe, trying to check out his LPs and giving him high fives. At Moodymans concert I counted 45 dancing people, and at Juan Atkins Saturday gig there was not many more and this is of course mindblowing for us Europeans, imagine a free Underground Resistance, Juan Atkins, Moodyman, Suburban Knights and Al Ester concert on a warm summer night in Vondelpark, I think more than 45 people would show up, some of the other "family" picnics in the park had more people. But this is of course the charm of seeing Techno in its birthplace, Detroit, the intimacy. DJ Al Ester swinging like a madman to Juan's set, while Underground Resistance gives their approval from from the sideline, and while Detroit Techno Militia is watching from the back. It is a cosy event, for free...

( Juan Atkins aka "the originator", Cybertron, Model 500 and Infiniti DJ's on Underground Resistance "Backpacks for school children benefit" picnic event on Belle Isle in Detroit, July 30 2011).

Detroit is a very warm place!

PS...I post a lot of links to Detroit Techno music on youtube on my facebook page.

Befriend me and you have access to a pretty vast library of handpicked, filtered diamonds.

you will find me, Jonas Ohlsson here...

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=530006830

BLUES PICNIC every sunday in our hood

PMS...here are some photos from our neighbourhood Blues picnic that happens every Sunday.

All the black motorcycle gangs show up and it is always very cozy, as with almost every event in Downtown Detroit, we are one of the very few white people showing up.

What is nice with this event, is to see all the old people getting down, I think the average age of this Blues picnic audience is around 60, but no bingo for these mo'fo's!!! It's songs about sex and rock n roll, sung in VERY badly disguised code, (rock n roll of course being one code word used for "the old in and out") And the old grand Mamas get up (out of their wheelchairs) and GET DOWN....

Griiiiiiiiinding the old Grandpa's!!!

From Detroit, Jonas Ohlsson reporting thanks to Expodium in Utrecht...